Mister Phil's Preschool for Gifted and Talented Children
by rmonroe
Summary: When Mister Phil leaves Miss Maria Hill in charge of his class for a day, the mini!Avengers wreak havoc. Crackfic!
1. Chapter 1

Phil Coulson had taught many preschoolers since becoming a teacher at Fury's School for the Gifted and Talented, and he'd had his fair share of trying children - it came with the territory of "gifted and talented." And, after all, with a room full of four-year-olds there were always fights, bathroom accidents, and tantrums. But his current group had proved to be an especial challenge.

The first day of the year had been a disaster. Little Steve had spent almost the entire time crying from the moment his mother left, Clint had climbed up to the top of the supply closet and hidden there for half-an-hour before Phil found him, and Natasha had slipped out the window and made it all the way home (that had been an awkward phone call: "Don't worry Mrs. Romanov, I'll be installing better locks this afternoon."). And then Tony and Bruce had constructed a full blown robot from Legos, wiring from the school's heating system, and clock batteries. Phil had been impressed by their ingenuity until the robot started hurling blocks at an alarming velocity, one of them connecting with Loki's head. As the little guy had started to wail, his brother, Thor, came to his aid with a bolt of lightning. Well, it was more like a spark, but it was enough to turn Bruce into a big green thing with the strength and size of a gorilla.

He'd been warned beforehand about his students' unusual abilities and had tried to prepare, but how does one prepare for kids that can do those sorts of things? He had spent the rest of the day after they went home fortifying the school and coming up with all new lesson plans. The next day had gone better, and by the time October rolled around he'd gotten them pretty much figured out.

Which was why he was very nervous to take a day off and call in a sub. But he couldn't miss his mother's 70th birthday party brunch and the district supervisor, Nick Fury, had assured him that he deserved some time off and that if he left detailed instructions, it would be fine. So Fury was sending in his best sub for the day, Maria Hill. Phil had worked with her before and he had always found her to be competent, if a little stiff for a preschool teacher.

When he told the kids the day before that they were going to have a different teacher, he was met with a chorus of protests. Steve, in fact, burst into tears and wrapped himself around Phil's leg. He patiently explained to them that it was just for a day and they were to be on their best behavior. To his dismay, he caught Clint and Natasha exchanging mischievous looks already.

As he composed his list of instructions for Maria that night, he almost called his mother several times to tell her he would have to come on the weekend, but kept telling himself that his kids would be fine without him for one day. Just fine.


	2. Chapter 2

Maria got to the classroom early and found a packet twenty sheets thick of instructions from Phil. She almost laughed. How incompetent did he think she was? There were only seven kids in the class and she'd been a preschool teacher for years. She gave the pages a cursory glance, rolling her eyes at things like, "Monitor Thor's snacks. He will sneak into the cupboard and if he gets into the candy his energy levels will be uncontrollable," and "Keep Tony and Bruce apart as much as possible. And do NOT allow them to have any batteries."

She put the packet down and wandered around the classroom, staring for a moment at the giant padlocks on the windows, supply closet, and Lego box. As she was just beginning to wonder if she should take another look at Phil's instructions, she heard voices outside.

"No! I'm big! I can go myseff!" said a little voice.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you since you have a different teacher today?" Maria recognized the tone of an overly concerned mother.

"No Mommy!"

"Okay, but don't climb on the shelves today. If you fall off you'll get hurt!"

"Mister Phil already maked me promise," the little voice said grumpily.

"Give me kisses, then. I love you, Clinton! Be good!"

"Mommy!" The indignance in the little boy's voice made Maria smile.

The classroom door opened and Clinton strode into the room, his pale blue eyes regarding her warily.

"Hi," she said, squatting down and smiling at him. "I'm Miss Maria. Are you Clinton?"

The boy looked mortified. "Clint!"

"Oh, my mistake. Clint, then. You're pretty brave to not need your mom to come in with you," she said, hoping to build some rapport with him.

But he just rolled his eyes and shrugged his backpack off. "Only Steve thinks school is scary. It's not," he informed her, stuffing his backpack in his cubby. Then, without another glance at her, he headed for the table where their names sat for them to trace.

So far, so good, Maria thought.

The next little boy to arrive let his mother come in with him. In fact, he was hanging onto her hand tightly, his face mostly obscured by his dark, curly hair and large glasses.

Maria smiled at his weary-looking mother and crouched down again. "Hi, I'm Miss Maria," she said. "What's your name?"

He shrunk a little closer to his mother. "Bruce," he whispered.

"Do you want to come sit by Clint and sign in?" she asked, standing and holding out her hand.

The little boy shook his head.

"C'mon, Brucey. I'm sure Miss Maria is just as nice as Mister Phil."

The little boy tugged on his mother's hand until she bent down. He whispered something in her ear and she sighed. "Ok. I'll stay until Tony gets here." She shot Maria an apologetic glance. "I'll just stay for a moment."

Maria forced a smile. She hated when parents did that. If felt like a personal offense somehow. "No problem," she managed just as the door flew open again with surprising force, narrowly missing Bruce and his mother.

"New teacher!" a blond-haired boy shouted, running into the room.

"Thor! Sluta kӧra!" A giant of a man followed him, holding the hand of a dark-haired boy. All three of them had long, gently curling hair.

Foreigners, Maria thought, trying to keep her smile up. I hope the kids speak English.

The blond boy was standing right at her feet staring up at her. "Mister Phil said we would have a new teacher and that I have to help all the kids smaller than me, which are all of them," he said solemnly.

"'Cept when Bruce changes," Clint muttered.

"Sorry," his father said in a heavy Norwegian accent. "He is very... how you say. Excited? Always." The large man sighed and patted the dark-haired boy's head. "Goodbye, sӧner."

The dark-haired boy let go of his father's hand and stood closer to the blond boy who threw an arm around him. "Teacher! This is my brother. I am Thor and he is Loki. He's only three."

"I'm Miss Maria. I'm glad to meet you," she said, a little surprised at how good the little boy's English was and the fact that he seemed incapable of speaking below a shout. "Will you go join everyone in signing in?"

"I know all my letters!" Thor cried, dashing off to the table and hauling his brother by the hand.

Maria noticed Clint was sitting cross-legged on top of the art table, pondering the point on a colored pencil. "Clint, feet on the floor, please," she said.

His head snapped up and he put the pencil behind his back guiltily. "I wasn't gonna frow it," he said.

"I certainly hope not," she said, wondering if she should confiscate the pencil.

But the door opened behind her and Clint's eyes lit up. "Nat!" he said, sliding off the table.

Maria turned to see a tiny girl with bright red hair standing with her mother.

"Be good, sweetheart. No escapes today, please," her mother warned before giving her a quick hug. "Let me know if there are any problems," she said to Maria.

"I'm sure we'll be fine, thanks," Maria said, her fake smile in place. "I'm Miss Maria," she said, crouching down again. "What's your name?"

"Natasha Romanov," the little girl said, lifting her chin.

"Nat! C'mon! I have a idea," Clint said, running up to her.

"Natasha needs to sign in first," Maria reminded him, noting the conspiratorial glances the two seemed to be exchanging. "Maybe you could go sit at the table with the others for now, Clint."

He shrugged and followed Natasha to the table, but failed to sit on the chair, opting for the tabletop instead. "Clint, feet on the ground please," she said just as the door opened again.

"I'm here! Brucey, guess what? I brought batt... Oh, hi, new teacher," a little dark-haired boy burst into the room, his father behind him.

"Tony, manners," his father scolded. "Greet her properly."

Frustration crossed the little boy's face but he stuck out his small hand with a grin. "Anthony Edward Stark, pleased to meetcha," he said. "Everybody calls me Tony."

This family was wealthy. She could tell from the father's tailored suit and the boy's carefully gelled hair and his pristine designer sneakers. She took his hand. "I'm Miss Maria. It's very nice to meet you, Tony," she responded, trying not to be too charmed by his grin.

"Tony, your new teacher will tell me if you misbehave," the man said. "Be good."

Tony nodded absently, chucking his backpack in the direction of the cubbies and walking over to the table. "Bruce! How come your mom's still here? Clint! Get off my paper, weirdo!"

His father gave a long-suffering sigh and exited, followed by Bruce's mom, just in time for Maria's final student to arrive. A woman came in carrying a little boy with short, blond hair, or rather, she wasn't so much carrying him as he was clinging to her with all his strength.

"I don't wanna go to school today!" he wailed.

"Steve, you're being silly. Mister Phil will be back tomorrow and all your friends are here," the woman explained patiently.

"I only like Mister Phil!" the little boy wailed.

Maria stepped in. "Steve, I'm Miss Maria. We're going to have lots of fun today so you should hurry and sign in so we can get started."

He just buried his head in the woman's shoulder.

"C'mon, sweetheart. I'll be back in just a few hours, okay? Can you be brave for me?"

"Brave" seemed to be a magic word. Steve let his mother extricated herself from his grasp and he watched her leave, his lip trembling. As the door shut, he let out a little sob, his chest hitching. Maria gently brought him over to the table hoping to distract him.

"Crybaby," Tony muttered, glancing up from his paper.

"Tony, that's not very nice," Maria said, sitting at the low table with Steve on her lap.

He shrugged and finished scribbling out his name. "Let's go play, Bruce," he said, standing up and shoving his paper toward Maria.

"Ten minutes playtime before our lesson," she reminded him over Steve's whimpers.

The kids scampered away except for Loki who was still carefully spelling out his name. In at least three different languages, apparently.

"Steve," Maria said in his ear. "What's your favorite thing to do at preschool?"

"D-draw," he sniffed, wiping his nose on the hem of his blue t-shirt.

"Would you like to help me get out the glue and paper for our art project later?" she asked, thinking she was finally making some headway.

"I just want my mom," he said, his lip trembling.

A scary-sounding thud came from across the room and Maria looked up sharply. Bruce, Tony, and Natasha were all holding a corner of the reading rug and Clint lay sprawled in the middle.

"Oops," Tony said, dropping his corner.

"You said it would work!" Natasha said, glaring at Tony and trying to help Clint up.

Maria set Steve down on the chair and hurried over. "What happened?" she asked, lifting Clint to his feet and checking him for injuries.

"I'm okay," he said, brushing her off. His eyes glanced up to the six-foot bookcase.

"Did you jump off of that?" she asked, wondering how he managed to get up there so fast without her seeing.

He glared at Tony. "Tony sayed they would catch me."

Tony flashed his grin at her. "Mister Phil says experiments are good for our brains."

"I don't think that was the kind of experiment he meant. Ask me before you do any more, okay? And Clint, you were told not to climb up on things," she reprimanded.

"I forgot," he muttered.

Maria looked back toward the table and saw Bruce sitting by Steve and talking to him quietly. She smiled. That was good … but right next to them, Loki appeared to be working on some kind of art project that involved copious amounts of glue and cardboard while Thor looked on gleefully.

"What are you doing, boys?" she asked with apprehension wondering how they had even gotten their hands on the materials.

"My brother makes me Mjolnir!" Thor said proudly.

Maria frowned. "What is a malner?"

Loki snickered without looking up. "Mjolnir," he said.

"It is my hammer!" Thor explained. "Papa says I can have one when I am bigger."

"I see," Maria lied. "You can finish it at craft time, okay? It's time for our lesson now. Bruce, Steve, come over to the carpet for lesson time." The four boys got up and followed her, Loki smearing glue over his shirt and pants, and Thor explaining the many virtues of Mjolnir.

She called everyone over, counting heads, and realized Natasha was missing. "Where's Natasha?" she asked.

Tony and Clint shared a look but neither spoke.

"Boys, if you know where Natasha is you need to tell me right now," she said sternly.

"I dunno," Tony said, his eyes the picture of innocence.

"Maybe she went home again," Bruce offered.

Clint giggled. "No she didn't!"

Maria zeroed in on him. "Clint, where is she?"

He squeezed his lips shut, his amusement gone.

"There she is!" Steve suddenly said.

Maria looked up to see Natasha enter the classroom from the door leading in from the hallway. She stared at the little girl in surprise for a minute. How had she managed to sneak past her?

"Natasha, where were you? You always need to ask a teacher before leaving the classroom!" Maria said.

The little girl regarded her coolly. "I went potty."

Maria went over and locked the door behind her using the deadbolt high on the door that Phil must have installed. "Ask me next time. It's dangerous for any of you to leave the classroom alone." She followed Natasha back to the carpet and sat down. "Okay, everybody. Sit down, please. Who wants to be calendar helper?"

Everyone's hand shot in the air with a chorus of "Me! Me! Me!"

"Bruce, how about you?"

The little boy got eagerly to his feet and Tony sat back with a disappointed huff.

"Okay, can you tell me what today is, Bruce?"

"Thursday, November 8th, 2012," Tony said, sounding bored. "The moon is a waning crescent, with 35% of the moon disk visible. It is …" he glanced at the clock. "10:47 PM Eastern Standard Time at 40.71 degrees North and 74 degrees West, New York City, New York, United States of America, North America, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy."

"Show off," Clint muttered.

"It's 40.7244 degrees North and 74.0064 degrees West," Bruce said, sounding a little apologetic.

"I was rounding!" Tony said indignantly.

"Where we are from, it is the first day of hӧst. Tomorrow is the first hunt of the season! Father says he will take me when I am bigger!" Thor said, apparently feeling the need to leap to his feet for his comment.

Maria found that her mouth had actually dropped open but she managed to recover and ask Bruce to find the date on the calendar.

By the time she'd gotten through the lesson on animals that hibernate, Tony had interjected so much that she'd had to send him to the corner twice, Clint and Natasha had shared so many whispered conversations that she'd had to make them sit on opposite ends of the carpet, and Steve's lip had continued to tremble, though he was stoically holding back actual tears.

With relief, she announced that it was craft time. She was really hoping a focused, seated activity would be good for all of them. She let Loki and Thor continue work on that mole … (merl?) thing and passed out more glue and construction paper for the others.


	3. Chapter 3

"We're going to make collages of our favorite animals," she explained, grabbing a large stack of magazines and plopping them on the table. "Then, after story time so they can dry, you can tell me about all the animals on your collages."

"I don't have a favorite animal," Tony said, propping his chin in his hand with a little pout.

"There are lots of different animals in these magazines, Tony. I bet you can find one or two you like," Maria said, spreading them out.

"Can I just do something else? Like Legos?" he whined as the others started grabbing for magazines. "Me and Bruce wanna do Legos."

"I like animals, too," Bruce said quietly, looking back and forth between Tony and Maria.

"We're doing this right now, Tony," Maria said firmly.

"I won't!" he shouted, crossing his arms over his chest.

Maria decided that the best course of action was to ignore him and hope he got interested in the activity. She passed around tiny scissors and spread out the magazines so the others could get started but it soon became clear that Tony really didn't like being ignored.

"You're mean!" he cried, and she was surprised to hear tears in his voice. He ran from the table and sat hunched up in the reading corner, his back to her.

She watched him for a moment, wondering if she should make him come back to the table or let him pout. She felt a tug on her hand and looked down at Bruce.

"Can I go over there?" he asked, pointing to Tony.

"No, Bruce. We're doing craft time right now." Maria felt her patience slipping. Craft time wasn't turning out as well as she'd hoped.

"But Tony is sad!" Bruce protested.

"Bruce -"

"Owwww!"

Maria looked toward the sudden wail and saw Loki holding a hand over his eye. Thor was patting him on the shoulder a little frantically. "Don't cry, brother!"

"Get away!" Loki shouted, shoving Thor and glaring at him.

"Loki, no pushing! What happened?" Maria asked hurrying over to them.

The dark-haired little boy stabbed a finger at his brother. "He pokeded me with Mjolnir! In my eye!"

"Let me see," Maria said, gently moving Loki's hand away from his eye. He looked undamaged but there was quite a lot of glue on his face and hands. "I think you're going to be just fine."

She turned to Thor who looked like he was about to cry. "Thor, did you mean to hurt Loki?"

He shook his head, his eyes dropping to the ground. "I was just playing," he said, his voice quiet for once.

"Maybe you could tell Loki that you're sorry and be more careful in the future, okay?" she said.

Thor ventured a glance at Loki. "Sorry, brother."

Loki didn't look any happier.

"Let's sit down and you can work on some collages," she said, guiding them both back to the table.

Thor sat down but Loki walked around to the other side of the table, as far away from his brother as possible. Thor looked crestfallen. _This is why you don't put siblings in the same class, _Maria thought.

At least Clint, Natasha, and Steve were behaving. They were all working quietly on their collages, though she noticed with some trepidation that Natasha was only including spiders on hers and Clint was spending more time helping her find spiders than working on his own collage. Steve's blond head was bent over his paper and he was carefully gluing animals to it, devoting all his concentration to the task.

She returned to the problem of Tony. When she'd been distracted by Thor and Loki's altercation Tony was no longer huddled in the reading corner, and Bruce had disappeared but there were suspicious noises coming from behind Phil's desk in the corner.

"Bruce? Tony?" she called, walking over.

"Quick! Get that wire in right here! No, give it to me!" Tony's hissed. He was under the desk so she couldn't quite see him, and Bruce popped up as Maria approached trying to shield Tony from view.

"What are you...?" she asked, dread coming over her. She looked around Bruce, he wasn't very big after all, and saw the motherboard of Phil's computer layed out with wires and other components spilling out of the CPU. "Boys!" she gasped. "Get away from here! Look what you've done to Phil's computer!"

Tony rolled his eyes. "I _know _what we did. We needed parts!"

"Both of you, to the corner, now. Opposite corners. I'm going to be calling your parents about this, and Mr. Phil isn't going to be very happy, either. This is very expensive equipment!"

To her frustration, Tony was still mostly unfazed. "No it's not! My dad has ones that cost lots more."

Nearly unable to speak, Maria grabbed both of the boys by the arm and dragged Tony to the time out corner and Bruce to the reading corner. Tony sat with his arms folded tightly and his face drawn into an angry pout and Bruce looked like he was about to cry, but they stayed put.

The rest of the kids were finishing up their art projects and Thor held his up proudly as she approached the table. "You didn't have my favorite animal but I made it!" His paper contained an odd conglomerate of animal parts vaguely resembling a six-legged-beast of some kind.

"That's … exceptional, Thor. What did everyone else do?" she asked, trying to calm down after dealing with Tony.

Loki held his up. It was covered with cats. Natasha's was composed mostly of spiders, with a scorpion, a panther, and a shark thrown in. Maria was beginning to wonder about that kid.

Clint hadn't gotten very far on his, probably because he had been helping Natasha find pictures for her's, but he had a pretty good collection of birds of prey on his paper.

Steve's was the most impressive. He had sketched out a forest for his lion, monkey, and ant colony to live in. "That's very creative, Steve," she praised. "Take your pictures over to the counter so the glue can dry and we'll have snack time."

Maria got out the animal crackers and juice boxes to Thor's great delight. She made sure to give them each the same amount as she had a feeling this group might be particular. Then she went to talk to Tony and Bruce.

She sat by Bruce in the reading corner and called Tony over. He came, still looking angry and dragging his feet.

"Boys," she said, trying to sound stern and gentle. "I hope you realize that taking other people's things and breaking them is a very bad thing to do. You wouldn't like it if someone broke one of your toys, right?"

They both stared at the ground.

"You can come have snacks with us, but can you please try to stay out of trouble for the rest of the day?" She looked at Tony as she made that request. The little boy just shrugged, and with a sigh Maria led them back to the table.

They were apparently all hungry because for a few blissful moments it was quiet except for the sound of crunching. Maria picked up Phil's instructions again, hoping it had some hints about Tony. But the quiet didn't last long.

"Who took my animal?" Thor cried, sounding disturbingly furious. She looked up to see him glaring threateningly around the table.

"Tony did!" Loki piped up.

Thor's wrath turned on Tony.

"I didn't take it!" he protested. "Loki's a liar!"

Thor leapt to his feet, scowling. "Don't call my brother a liar!"

"Boys!" Maria said sharply, angry that Tony was the cause of yet another issue. "Tony, we _just_ talked about not taking other people's things. Give Thor his cracker back or you'll have to go back to the corner."

Tony glared at Loki. "I didn't take his dumb cracker."

"Tony, give it back."

"I didn't take it!"

"He didn't," Bruce said. "Loki did!"

Maria lost her patience. "Bruce, you need to worry about your own crackers. Tony, come with me."

Tony's lip started to tremble and his eyes welled up. "I didn't take it! Really! Don't make me go back again!"

He kept up his tearful protests as she led him by the hand back to the corner where he dropped to the floor and started to sob. He sounded genuinely heartbroken but she ignored the pang she felt for him, telling herself it was for his own good.

She returned to the table as Bruce was picking up his handful of crackers. "I want to sit by Tony," he said. She could tell he was angry.

"Absolutely not. Tony is in time out for a reason."

Bruce stomped his foot and his eyes darkened. "It's not fair! Tony didn't take the cracker!"

"Bruce, sit down and-"

"It's not fair!" he screamed. And right before her eyes Bruce started to turn green. She could only watch in horror as he grew, his clothes stretching and bursting, the crackers turning to dust in his fist.

"Uh-oh," Steve said. "You're not 'posed to make Bruce mad."

The giant green version of Bruce let out a roar and charged at Maria and for a moment she stood frozen before diving out of the way just in time. He crashed into the cubbies instead, letting out another disturbingly loud roar.

The other kids scattered as he began flinging backpacks. She tried to call them to her so she could somehow get them to safety, but they either couldn't hear her or were ignoring her. Steve crouched behind the giant toy box against the opposite wall, Loki dove under the table, Thor snatched his cardboard thing and ran _toward _Bruce, and Clint and Natasha ran for the bookcase shouting something like "ceiling plan is a go!"

Bruce finished hurling backpacks and charged at her again. She just had time to grab the phone off Phil's desk before dodging the huge green boy. She dialed Fury's number and watched, terrified, as Bruce headed for the bookcase. Clint and Natasha had both made it to the top and Clint was helping Natasha climb through one of the ceiling panels. The little girl reached down and pulled Clint up just as Bruce crashed into the shelf.

As she listened to Fury's phone ring, Maria _really _wished she'd read Phil's instructions.

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Thanks so much for reading! One more chapter to go. :)


	4. Chapter 4

Mister Phil to the rescue! :)

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Phil stayed just long enough for his Aunt Molly to bring out the birthday cake. Then he hugged his mother and told her he was sorry, but the preschool needed him. His relatives looked at him doubtfully, and he smiled and told them he had a very special group of kids.

He hoped his mother wouldn't hold it against him. He'd had a rather sick feeling in his stomach all day and he was sure something was wrong at school.

His concerns were not unfounded. He could hear Bruce, or rather, Bruce's angry side, before he even entered the school. He broke into a run down the hallway when he heard a huge crash and screaming kids. Other teachers were standing around the classroom but were clearly unsure how to help. Phil pushed past them and tried to open the door, but it was locked. He pressed his face against the small window in the door and pounded, hoping someone could hear him over all the noise.

Bruce's green alter-ego had apparently just shoved the bookcase over and was now tearing it apart, and Phil's eyes searched the room frantically, hoping no one was under it. Thor was standing in the middle of the room trying to shield Loki and waving some sort of cardboard weapon, and Loki was trying to push past him, his hands glowing oddly. Tony was standing near them looking strangely gleeful. Phil could just see the top of Steve's head over the giant toy box in the corner, and Maria was over by his desk, speaking into the phone frantically and trying to wave the rest of the children over.

He couldn't see Clint, or Natasha, though. He pounded on the door again, shouting Thor's name since he was closest.

Thor didn't hear him but Loki did. The little boy ran over, but he was far too small to reach the top deadbolt, and Bruce had noticed him. As the large mass of green came charging toward them, Phil grabbed the handle and shook it frantically, hoping it would somehow open magically before someone got hurt.

Just before Bruce's other side reached Loki, little Steve stepped right in front of the charging monster, guarding himself with the plastic lid from the toy box. It slowed Bruce down just enough for Natasha to drop down - from the ceiling?! He couldn't really see - a rope tied around her waist, and unlock the door.

Phil flung the door open and rushed in, reaching Bruce just before he took a swat at Steve. "Bruce!" he shouted, holding up his hands. "Bruce, it's me! You're okay, you're safe, you're okay," he said, continuing the mantra as he stepped closer. He saw recognition hit Bruce's eyes and he was suddenly grabbed in a giant green hug. The rest of the kids cheered and ran over, clustering around him as Bruce shrunk back down to his normal size.

Phil plopped down on the floor, relief flooding through him. Bruce had his arms still tightly around Phil's waist, Steve was under his left arm, Tony was hanging on his right, Natasha leaned against his knee, Loki and Thor sat happily on his other leg, and finally, Clint dropped out of the ceiling right onto his back.

He got his arms around as many of them as possible. He would be mad at them later, as soon as his relief at their safety wore off.

"Did you see that Mister Phil?" Tony cried. "Clint and Tasha were in the roof!"

"Yeah, an', an' I was in a plan, an' I helped Loki!" Steve said, grinning happily.

"But it was my plan," Clint said, climbing up to sit on Phil's shoulders. "An' I holded the rope so Tasha wouldn't fall!"

"It was my plan!" Natasha protested. "I got the rope!"

"I knew you weren't going potty before!" Tony said triumphantly.

"Did you see me with Mjolnir?" Thor boomed, waving the cardboard creation around and whacking Phil in the face.

"I made it!" Loki said proudly. "But I forgot the spell to make it heavy."

"I jumped off the bookcase," Clint announced.

"And me an' Tony broke your computer," Bruce informed him.

"But we can fix it!" Tony said quickly, glaring at his friend.

Steve leaned close and whispered loudly, "Tony got put in the corner four times."

"Steve cried!" Tony said, clearly having overheard.

"Okay!" Phil said loudly, before things could get even more out of hand. "Sounds like you had a really exciting day and I want to hear all about it. But first, Tony, could you grab one of the blankets from the closet?"

Tony raced off and brought back one of the blankets they used for nap time. Phil tucked it around Bruce, who was already sleeping off his transformation and carefully disentangled himself from the rest of his class with the exception of Clint who was still sitting on his shoulders and had his arms wrapped around Phil's head. He carried Bruce over to the cushions in the reading center and squatted down to make him comfortable, moving carefully so Clint didn't topple off.

"Okay, everyone," he said, standing and reaching behind his head to lift Clint off. "Grab your resting mats while I talk to Miss Maria."

Everyone sent up a protest, but Phil set Clint on the floor and held up his hands. "I know you don't want to have quiet time, but if you can get your mats set up in the next five minutes I'll sit with you and you can take turns telling me about today. Quietly!" he reminded as they all dashed off to get their mats.

He turned and walked over to Maria. She was still clutching the phone, though her hand had dropped to her side. "I'm sorry," he said. "I knew I shouldn't have left them."

Maria gave her head a little shake, wiping the shocked expression from it. "That was … I can't believe …"

He patted her shoulder. "Something else, aren't they?"

She shook her head again. "Fury will probably call back. You know, I thought all those instructions were ridiculous. I didn't even read half of them. I was wrong."

He appreciated her admission, but couldn't help feeling annoyed that he'd spent all that time writing that packet. "Well, there's always next time," he said, mostly just to see her reaction. He didn't plan on leaving his class again any time soon.

She stared at him for a moment. "Phil, I don't know how you do it. But I'm pretty sure you're the only one who can." She put the phone down and surveyed the destroyed room before heading over to try and put the cubbies back together.

With a sigh, Phil settled down on the carpet amid his preschooler's mats, trying to keep up as they chattered about everything that had happened. Eventually he gave up and just let their voices wash over him.

Phil had taught many preschoolers since becoming a teacher at Fury's School for the Gifted and Talented, and he'd had his fair share of trying children. And while his current group was especially challenging, he also wouldn't trade them for anything.

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Thank you all so much for your reads, reviews, favorites, and follows. :) And I also have to give a huge thank you to my beta reader. I couldn't have done it without her!

I'm planning a story next about Clint rescuing a little girl. She becomes the catalyst for Clint and Natasha to face some issues that have been haunting them since New York and Loki. Stay tuned and thanks again!


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